A Master By Any Other Name
by 0 Jordinio 0
Summary: Destiny is a tricky thing indeed, but it is not set in stone. One small change can throw an entire universe in a completely different direction than originally planned. So when a new rule is steadily implemented by the Pokemon League Committee, and Ash Ketchum meets his new partner much earlier than planned. Destiny has suddenly gone awry, but that doesn't mean for the worse.
1. Prologue

**Right, Here I am back again.**

**So, the poll is closed and the five winners have been chosen.**

**So, hello and welcome to a whole new original plot thought out by yours truly. A Master By Any Other Name is a story I've been planning out for about a month now, so here's hoping you enjoy it.**

**Without any further waiting, I introduce to you the Prologue of - A Master By Any Other Name -**

* * *

"I sure am glad that I'm in here and not out there." Ash Ketchum commented to himself from his seat on the couch within his house. He stared at the window, the view outside a complete blur thanks to the mass amount of rain water pelting the glass. The winds outside howled so fearsomely loud that he could have almost mistaken it for a massive enraged Pokemon, maybe a Dragonite or Tyranitar.

Ash was a young boy of 6 years old, he had messy black hair that spiked towards the fringe and the nape of his neck and vibrant amber eyes.

Standing up, Ash lifted the empty plate he'd just plucked clean of food. "Better wash this before mom gets back." The young boy said to himself as he began making his way towards the kitchen, "Don't want her scolding me for being a slob again." He continued, shuddering slightly in remembrance of the last time that incident had occurred. He'd finished eating and left food stained dinner plates laying the end table next to the couch, all the while running back outside to go on another 'adventure' with his best friend Gary Oak.

He remembered the lesson well, because when his mother had caught up with him later that night when he returned home from playing with the Pokemon at the Oak Ranch he'd been grounded for two weeks and forced to do all of the house cleaning every single day of those two mind numbing weeks.

For an active kid like him it was torture. He didn't know how his mother could stand doing it day in, day out. He'd have went stir crazy long ago.

Entering the kitchen, Ash set the dirtied plate down inside the sink and turned the tap on, letting the water heat up and run over the plate.

Looking to the side, he gave a sigh when he saw that the trash bin they kept in the kitchen was filled to the brim, meaning that the trash would have to be taken out to the garbage cans outside the house... in the torrential rain storm.

Ash sighed in annoyance as he looked down at his attire. He was wearing a pair of sandals on his feet, a pair of blue shorts and a thin yellow t-shirt. Shrugging in a 'what are you gonna do?' manner, Ash walked over and tied the tops of the garbage bag together to keep the contents locked inside and gave a grunt as he lifted the rather heavy – for a 6 year old – bag up and began making his way outside.

If he was a normal 6 year old kid, he could have ignored it and left for his mother to clean up when she returned from having dinner at the Oak Laboratory.

But he wasn't a normal 6 year old kid, he was an aspiring Pokemon Trainer. Those who aspired to become Pokemon Trainers were expected to show a level of maturity, in that they had the ability to take care of themselves and their Pokemon. More and more Trainers nowadays had been getting rejected at the age of 10 because very few of them actually showed the maturity needed of a Pokemon Trainer.

And so, when they were given their first Pokemon at the age of 10, instead of heading out on their journeys these rejected few were sent to one of the Pokemon Academies situated around each region. And until they could pass the needed tests, were not allowed to graduate and continue on in their chosen Pokemon Trainer profession.

By the time he was 10 it was expected that only the extremely talented children would be allowed to start out on their journeys normally and all the others would be sent off to one of the academies.

Ash had heard about it on the news a month ago, and was determined to prove his maturity and the level-headedness needed of a Pokemon Trainer.

It was why his mother had finally conceded to leaving him home alone, even though he was only a 6 year old child.

It was the first step on him proving his ability to take care of himself, and any Pokemon he would catch on his journey.

… Now he just needed to learn how to cook. Yes, that was kind of a basic necessity for any Pokemon Trainer. He didn't even want to think of what a Pokemon journey would be like without the ability to cook form himself.

Opening his front door, Ash sighed in annoyance as his face was blasted with a large amount of cold rain water and a rather powerful gust of wind that almost send the young boy stumbling backwards.

"...Just... great." The child grumbled when he looked down and saw that the pathway outside of his home was flooded with a large puddle of water, enough that it would reach just around his ankles.

Grumbling once again, Ash stepped out into the rainy night, his feet sinking up to his ankles in the cold puddle of water.

Shivering, Ash braved on, ignoring the cold chill of the wind and quickly made his way down the path. Just outside his garden fence he came to a stop beside the six garbage cans. Pallet Town was so small it was near enough a village, so public services like Garbage disposal men were rare, only occurring once every two to three weeks, sometimes even monthly periods. So, generally, the average sized Pallet house had around five to six garbage cans so that trash didn't end up overflowing the streets.

Pulling the lid off of one of the garbage cans, Ash hefted the bag of trash in his arms up and dumped it inside the garbage can, his arms shaking slightly from the effort as well as the cold from the harsh winds and rain.

Sticking the lid back on the garbage can, Ash turned on his heel and was about to make his way back inside the house to dry himself off and sit in front of the warm fire to watch TV and await for his mothers return, when he was stopped in his tracks by a low keening whine.

"Grooooowww..."

It was a small, weak and pitiful noise but it put Ash on guard regardless.

"The heck was that?" Ash hissed to himself quietly, balancing on the balls of his feet ready to make a mad dash back into the safes confines of his house if the noise threatened to be malicious in intent.

Ignoring both the cold harsh rain soaking him to the bone, and the common sense blaring in his mind to 'run away'. Ash slowly stepped around he garbage cans and peered cautiously at the source of the noise.

"Is that a Pokemon?" the young boy muttered to himself.

Laying in a crumpled heap behind the garbage cans was a small canine like beast. Its reddish with cream at parts fur was soaked so thoroughly it looked black in places.

Crouching down, Ash hesitantly reached out and patted the matted fur of what he assumed was a Pokemon.

He jerked back when the Pokemon surged to it's feet upon the contact, growling pitifully at him and swaying as it leered at him dangerously.

"Groooooowlithe!" It managed to grit out, as threateningly as it could.

But it did not deter Ash in the least when his 6 year old mind managed to piece things together. '_It's a Growlithe!_' He realized, '_But it's a lot smaller than the Growlithe I always see up at the Oak Ranch._'

Steeling himself, Ash reached out and gently ran his hand along the side of the small Growlithe. It hissed at him, but he ignored it because in attempting to calm the Pokemon down he could practically feel its bony ribs sticking out from its skin.

'_Why is it so thin?_' Ash questioned himself, puzzled. Looking the Growlithe over from head to toe, the answer dawned on him, '_It's only a pup!_' He managed to piece together when he finally compared its size with the many Growlithe packs led by the giant Arcanine at the Oak Ranch.

Retracing slightly, Ash looked at the canine Pokemon thoughtfully as he continued to ignore the rain pelting against his small frame.

From what he could remember from Professor Oak's lecture about Growlithe when he and Gary covered the topic of said Pokemon in their studies a few weeks back, Growlithe were sociable Pokemon tending to stick with their packs until they became Arcanine or were confident in their ability to live alone.

'_There's just no way a Growlithe this young would have left its pack voluntarily, it must have been separated._' He concluded inside the confines of his mind

That was when he realized something else. Growlithe were Fire Type Pokemon and they were currently situated outside in the middle of a torrential rain storm. The thought alone was enough to make the young aspiring trainer surge to his feet.

With the young Growlithe pup being a Fire Type Pokemon, obviously weak from not having eaten a decent meal of any kind in quite some time, being caught outside in a heavy downpour and its fur soaked to the bone. It all added up in the young boys mind, and the answer he got was Trouble with a capital 'T'. He needed to act fast..

"I've gotta get you outta this rain!" Ash exclaimed hurriedly to the Growlithe pup. His loud voice must have scared it though because it took a few weak paces backwards.

Ash would not be deterred though. The young boy, sprang forward and before the Growlithe could even respond Ash had bent down and promptly scooped the young pup into his arms, ignoring the small Pokemons loud surprised yelp.

"C'mon!" He said as he reached his full height again. Turning on his heel, the young boy practically sprinted up the flooded path and rushed back into his home, kicking the door shut behind him as he did so.

Rushing into the living room, Ash set the Growlithe pup down gently in front of the warm fire, the orange flames flickering gently from the pressure of wind his rushing had sent its way.

Looking at the pup, Ash grinned as he saw it warily watching him for any sign of violence.

Turning on his heel again, Ash walked straight out of the living room and into the hall. Opening the storage cupboard that ran underneath the stairs to the upper floor of the house he reached up onto the shelves that held the bare towels and selected a dark blue.

Taking the towel, Ash closed the cupboard door behind him before heading back into the living room and moving towards the Growlithe pup that was still taking in its new surroundings in a fascinated confusion.

Chuckling at the dumbfounded look on Growlithe's face, Ash knelt down in front of it and gently cupped its face with the blue towel.

"Grooow?" The small pup barked in confusion, tilting its head to the side curiously.

Ignoring it, Ash continued to chuckle lightly as he began to gently rub the towel through Growlithe's fur. First gently drying of its face, then he moved onto its back and stomach and then finished off by gently drying off its legs.

When he pulled back, Ash grimaced at the dirtied towel. It was damp, smelled of staleness and was covered in grime and muck that had covered Growlithe's red and cream coloured fur.

Growlithe gave a start when he pulled away, shaking its small body to get rid of the puffiness in its fur. It sniffed curiously for a moment before giving a startled sneeze and then yipped at Ash.

"Who's a good boy?" Ash cooed at it gently with a soft smile. He wasn't really sure if the Growlithe was a male or female Pokemon. Unlike a lot of species of Pokemon, Growlithe did not have any marks that differed between genders. It was more than likely a male Pokemon though, as the Growlithe family had a seventy-five percent chance in being born males.

The only other things he could recall about the Growlithe line from his lectures with Professor Oak were that they were incredibly loyal, had diverse and powerful move pools and...

"Groow!" Growlithe yipped once more, before halting in front of Ash and visibly wilting, giving another low whine.

….When they were young they tended to have to eat a lot, so the flames inside their young bodies could keep burning bright, empowering and and keeping them healthy.

Ash snapped his fingers in realization, "Oh, you're hungry!" He exclaimed with a grin, before turning thoughtful a moment later, "Well, I suppose that makes sense since you've obviously been separated from your pack, and you're too young to have learned to hunt yet." The young black haired child mused thoughtfully.

"Lithe!" The small pup barked, nodding its head vigorously.

"Right!" Ash told it with a smile, getting to his feet. "I'll be back in a flash little buddy, just wait here and be patient!" He declared.

Turning around, the young boy rushed through the door to his kitchen. His living-room and Kitchen being one of the conjoining kind.

Entering the kitchen Ash swiftly moved over to the sink and opened the cupboard below it. His mother was a kind and gentle woman, and she tended to feed any stray Pokemon that seemed to need some help.

As far as he knew, she used to be a Trainer but gave up after a while. She had released her only Pokemon, an Espeon, back into the wild just before he was born because it had found a mate.

His mother was very happy when the female Espeon and its mate, a male Umbreon, decided to live in the forests at the Oak Ranch. She would go visit them every now and then, like she was doing tonight. He'd heard her fussing over the video phone to Professor Oak about them having a litter of Eevee Eggs.

That was all he remembered though, he was too occupied watching the latest battles at the Indigo Plateau when the discussion was going on, so he had ignored the majority of it.

Shaking his head, Ash rid himself of thoughts of his mother and grabbed the large bag of Pokemon food. It was designed to be edible for all types, because during the swarm seasons Pallet Town attracted quite the variety of different Pokemon.

He'd seen all kinds of Pokemon depending on the climate. He'd seen Aron, Shinx, Murkorw, Houndour and even one rather rowdy Magmar leading a group of young Magby.

The Pokemon food wasn't designed to be more in tune with one type and therefore better tasting to them, but instead was designed to be edible by all Pokemon, regardless of their types or personal preferences.

Ash wondered if it tasted bland though. It couldn't taste like anything in particular if it was for everyone, because some Pokemon didn't, or even sometime _couldn't_, enjoy the same tastes as other.

Grabbing a large black bowl from beside where the bag of Pokemon food was positioned Ash set it down and opened the bag of food before he began pouring a sizeable amount into the bowl.

The Growlithe pup, while thin and obviously very hungry, did not seem to be a starvation victim, because it still had quite a bit too much strength in it to be one. So he had no need to worry about over feeding it and making it sick.

Pokemon, he'd learned recently, were all imbued with a special type of energy that protected them and healed them. So all he needed to do was fill the small pups stomach, allow it to rest and the energy that circulated its body would take care of the rest. Seeing as it had no injuries to speak of it would likely be it's regular hyperactive self after a good sleep and a nap.

'_It's scary_.' Ash thought to himself, slightly dazed. '_Just a month ago before hearing that news report I knew nothing at all about Pokemon, I hardly even knew the type match-up basics, yet now here I am feeding a young stray Growlithe..._'

Ridding himself of his thoughts once again, Ash lifted the bowl and stood back up and made his way back through to the living room.

Walking over to the fire, he smiled softly as he saw Growlithe sitting quietly, basking in the heat of the warm fire blazing right beside it. No doubt finding some kind of comfort in its natural element being so close.

Flopping down in front of the Pokemon he saw the stray turn to stare at him curiously as he sat down. Ash grinned and placed the bowl down in front of the Pokemon, "Eat up and enjoy!" He declared grandiosely.

He watched intently as the Growlithe pup stood up and curiously smelled at the bowl of brown bite-sized treats of Pokemon food before tentatively inching its head forward and eating one of the small bites from the top.

It chewed quickly and then swallowed before following up with an excited bark once again before digging in, devouring the bowl of food with a vigour that reminded Ash of when he himself ate.

Ash watched the small Fire Type Pokemon intently, he could swear the Growlithe was becoming healthier and healthier as time slowly passed by while it ate ravenously. The red of it's fur seemed to shimmer slightly with small embers and become a more vibrant red the more it filled its stomach.

The living room was deadly silent except for the noises made by Growlithe as it ate. Ash was content to watch the Pokemon.

For as long as he could remember Pokemon had fascinated him and he'd dreamed of one day becoming a Pokemon Trainer. He dreamed regularly of defeating other Trainers, gaining recognition, playing with his future Pokemon, and yet for some weird reason even when he dreamed about flying around on one of the Flying Types backs, their faces and most redeeming features on their bodies were blurred out as if someone had made a shading mistake on a water painting.

It was as frustrating as it was exhilarating. He had a desperate urge to see what these Pokemon were, but an even larger need that tugged at his heart-strings each and every day to find the Pokemon that were destined to be his and capture them

He was broken from his musings by the Growlithe pup barking happily and walking over to him. Standing on its hind legs, it placed its front paws on his chest and began to lick his face happily.

Ash laughed, "H-hey, I see you're a happy pup now!" He said loudly, his voice rumbling with happy laughter.

Reaching up, Ash began to scratch Growlithe behind the ear, "Who's a good boy!" The young amber eyed boy gushed.

Growlithe tumbled slightly back to the floor, kicking one of its legs happily against the carpet as it whined in pleasure from the ear scratching, "Groooow..." The small pup allowed to leave its mouth, and Ash noted its eyes fluttering slightly and slowly closing

Chuckling, Ash pulled back and stood up. Walking over to the couch he grabbed the black throw over hanging over the back of it before making his way back over to Growlithe and gently covering the lightly slumbering Pokemon with it.

"There's a good boy, you rest up now." Ash cooed softly as he picked up the empty food bowl and headed back towards the kitchen.

Once in the kitchen, Ash placed the bowl in the sink before running the tap of hot water and filling it to the brim and allowing it to soak.

Before leaving the kitchen once again, Ash grabbed the Pokemon food he'd left out in his excitement over feeding Growlithe and returned it to its place in the cupboard below the sink and then he headed back through to the living room.

Plopping down on the couch, he grabbed the TV remote and turned it off, allowing the screen of the TV to blink and fade black.

Instead, he watched the slumbering Growlithe intently. The young Fire Type Pokemon was now estranged from its pack, and with nowhere else to go - because travelling packs of Arcanine and Growlithe never stayed in one place too long. Would it want to stay with him and maybe, just maybe, become his very own Pokemon?

He knew his mother would never turn down allowing such a young and cute Pokemon to stay with them. That was just the kind of woman she was, she wouldn't be able to live with herself knowing she turned such a young defenceless pup away and forced it back into the dangerous wilds without anything to protect it.

It would still be alone if they took it up to the Oak Ranch to live. Pokemon were not very accepting of Pokemon from different packs, even if they were of the same species, and the Growlithe line were no different. If anything they might even be more harsh. If they saw the stray as a pup he would be welcomed with the other young pups, probably, unless they just didn't like him for whatever reason, but if they saw him as an adult the pack leader might consider him a threat. Ash didn't want to consider the beating the giant Arcanine would deem necessary to visit upon the tiny Growlithe pup to teach it early on what its place in the pack was.

The only species of Pokemon that he knew of in his limited education that would accept other Pokemon of their species regardless of what pack they belonged to was the Pikachu line. Surprising, considering how prone the species was to producing the independent lone wolf types, but they were still, at their core, rodents, so it made sense they would be more accepting so they could band together against bigger predators.

The young raven haired boy was so deep in thought he didn't notice when seconds turned to minutes and minutes, which eventually turned to a full hour. So deep in thought was he, that he didn't even notice that his new house guest had awoken until the young Growlithe leaped up onto the couch beside him and gave a loud happy bark.

"Grooowlithe!" The small pup barked out, nudging his shoulder with its nose.

Ash blinked as he noticed the Pokemon before smiling. Impulsively, he reached over and scooped the small pup into his arms and deposited it on his lap and began to gently pat its furred head.

"Did you have a good sleep Growlithe?" He inquired with a smile.

"Lithe lithe, Growlithe!" Growlithe responded energetically, before leaping up slightly and licking his face happily.

"I get it, I get it!" Ash laughed, managing to calm the small puppy Pokemon down somewhat. Although it continued to nuzzle his small hand with its nose.

"Hey, Growlithe?" Ash said softly after a moment of petting the small Fire Type.

Growlithe stopped nuzzling his hand and turned its head to look at him curiously, "Grow?" It responded, puzzled.

Tucking his arms under its front paws, Ash lifted the Pokemon up and held it eye level with himself, "How would you... like to stay here? W-with me?" Ash asked, his voice somewhat timid from a sudden bout of nervousness that enveloped his core.

Growlithe titled its head and looked at him curiously for a moment before giving another happy bark, "Growlithe!" And with that happy bark out, it began to lick Ash's face vigorously causing Ash to laugh again.

Ash laughed in relief, joy and a whole bucket full of other emotions he couldn't have placed at that moment if someone asked him to.

All he knew was that in some unorthodox way he had gotten his first Pokemon.

Growlithe, his new partner and a life long friendship that would only strengthen as both boy and Pokemon aged.

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**So? What did you think?**

**I'd appreciate some feed back on this, it helps me to improve on my skills as a writer.**

**Anyway, that's me done for now so toss me a review or Pm me if you have any questions.**

**Savvy?**


	2. Chapter 1

**Ugghh, well I'm back guys. Sorry this took so long, but my muse is just terrible at the moment. I mean, I've got most of this plot all planned out besides a few small things such as which Pokemon Ash should catch. Because besides one of them I have planned for him to catch later, these ones won't really effect the story all that much. Plot-wise in the long run at least.**

**Anyway, I made you all wait far too long for an update on any of my stories and I apologize. I literally forced myself the past one and a half days to just sit down and get this chapter written out and finished.**

**I apologize if you find any problems with the style of writing. But this is all I could muster up the will to write with.**

**On Another note, I've got a blog that I'm going to begin posting in regularly now that I've actually posted an update that will allow my readers - you - to know about it. The link is at the top of my profile.**

**Anyway, I bet you guys are tired of reading a crappy Author's Note and just itching to skip it all and get straight into the newest chapter of this story. So I won't keep you all any longer, and I'll end this Author's Note right here.**

**A Master By Any Other Name**

**Chapter 2**

**Go!**

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Standing back up to his full height, Ash let out a satisfied sigh of pleasure as he stretched his arms up over his head and felt the tension in his back disappear when his spine made a satisfying 'crack' sound.

His eyes surveyed the family of Pidgey, Pidgeotto and Pidgeot as they hungrily ate from the trough of food he'd just filled up. The family consisted of small brown and creamy-yellow colored avian Pokemon, moved up to larger avians of the same color yet had swept back pink hair ontop of their heads, and finally to the few fully evolved Pidgeot of the family which actually stood taller than Ash himself and had long swept back blonde hair adorning the top of their heads.

"That's my rounds for this mornin' done." Ash said to himself, brushing down his shirt to wipe away any stray dirt or dust that stuck to him. His attire consisted of a pair of black boots which his black cargo pants were tucked into and held up by a silver belt that had one Pokeball attached to it. A white high collared shirt that had the top few buttons left undone to show off the large tooth dangling from a piece of black string around his neck. "Now, what should I do to pass the time? Get in some training? Or go for an early lunch?" The amber eyed boy muttered to himself thoughtfully.

Before he could decide though, the black ear piece around his right ear buzzed to life and he heard the familiar voice of Professor Oak talking to him, "_Ash, it seems the Nidoking and Nidoqueen have gone on another rampage please see to it._" The old researcher told him, before the ear piece buzzed out once again and left Ash in silence.

"Dammit, not again..." Ash groaned, swiping his hand across his exasperated face. "And here I thought, I was done for this morning." He mumbled in annoyance.

This was the 4th time this week that a herd of Pokemon living within the Oak Ranch began stampeding. And it was only Wednesday to.

Giving a sigh, Ash tossed a wave to the Pidgeot family currently eating their breakfast and sprinted off towards the area of the Oak Ranch where he knew the Nidoking and Nidoqueen families resided.

A few metres into his run, he unclipped the Pokeball from his silver belt and released the Pokemon from within in a burst of silvery blue light.

Materializing at his side and keeping pace with him easily, was the form of a massive canine Pokemon. Arcanine.

Arcanine had become a truly massive canine Pokemon when he'd evolved just over a year ago from the little Growlithe he once was. His head was covered in a cream-colored fur, except for the region around his eyes and ears, which was orange. The large canine's body was a combination of the same orange fur with black stripes and completely black fur on his belly. He had patches of cream-colored fur on his chest, legs, and tail, resembling smoke. Arcanine's paws each had three toes and a round pink pad underneath and two large fangs jutting out from the large Pokemon's mouth even when said mouth was closed.

Wasting no time, Ash reached over to grasp Arcanine's neck and swung himself expertly up onto the Pokemons back, "The Nidoking and Nidoqueen are on a rampage again buddy." Ash told the Pokemon as he seated himself upon his Pokemon's back and began to ride on its back. He received a grumbling whine in response, and Ash could only chuckle in bemusement, "Yeah, I know big surprise right?" He questioned rhetorically before pushing on, not waiting for a reply, "Let's wrap this little tantrum of theirs up quickly then, use Extremespeed!" The raven haired boy commanded.

Arcanine obeyed without preamble and started to pick up the pace. His legs became little more than a blur as a white aura wrapped around his body and he shot off like a rocket towards their destination, an orange-white streak to the naked human eye.

* * *

It took Ash and Arcanine a few minutes at the very most to arrive at their destination, all the way on the other side of the Oak Ranch.

Shielding his eyes from the sun, Ash looked over a bit into the distance where he could see a large dust cloud moving across the vast outer layer of the Oak Ranch. He could just make out the silhouette of the many Nidoking and Nidoqueen rampaging around, being led by the biggest Nidoking of the herd which was the only one that he could see clearly because it was at the front.

"Let's go!" Ash ordered.

Arcanine obeyed and sprinted rapidly after the herd, easily catching up within a few moments and then began to actually overtake the gathered pokemon.

When Arcanine ran straight up past the lead Nidoking, the large canine Pokemon skidded on its feet into a turn that left both Arcanine and Ash standing directly in the path of the Nidoking and Nidoqueen stampede.

"Break up the herd." Ash ordered next, "Use, Flamethrower!"

Opening his large maw, Arcanine launched a large gout of searing hot reddish orange flames straight down the middle of the herd.

The largest Nidoking leading roared something to its fellow Pokemon before dodging to the side, narrowly evading the searing hot flames fired off by Arcanine. The rest of the Nidoking and Nidoqueen swiftly following suit of their leader, also diving to the sides to dodge the attack.

As the Nidoking and Nidoqueen recovered and got to their feet, Ash used this opportunity to jump off of Arcanine's back and move off to the side. He had no desire to get caught up in a fight between Arcanine and the massive Nidoking leading the herd.

He was pretty strong, especially for a 10 year old. It came with the job he worked, he supposed. He'd been working as an assistant to Professor Oak since his 8th birthday, two years as of a few weeks ago when he turned ten years old. And most of the work he done under the older man was physical in nature, so a by product of working up close and personal with so many Pokemon had made his body quite a bit more muscular than the average person his age.

But he digressed. Fit and strong for his age or not, a physical powerhouse like a Nidoking – especially one as large as the Nidoking leading this herd – would snap him in half like a twig.

It took a special kind of person to get up and personal with Pokemon like Nidoking. Those special people being along the lines of Bruno of the Kanto Elite Four. A person who had trained extensively for years with incredibly powerful Fighting-type Pokemon like Machamp.

He was nowhere near as strong as Bruno, so Ash himself would have to settle for commanding Arcanine in battle against the Nidoking and beating it down.

The lead Nidoking rumbled angrily as it got to its feet. The Pokemon was covered in thick purple plates of armour and the large horn adorning its head dripped ominously with a deep and dangerous purple poison that slowly dripped to the grassy floor and fizzled the grass away.

Nidoking were truly powerful and dangerous Pokemon.

The Nidoking that led the herd skulked slowly towards Arcanine, its thick powerful plated arms tensed to attack at a moments notice.

Ash wasn't worried though. This wasn't the first herd of powerful Pokemon he and Arcanine had to calm down and stop rioting, and he doubted that it would be the last.

Still, he waited for the largest Nidoking to situate itself in a ready stance before he acted. He didn't want to make it look like he was attempting to fight dirty and attack before it was ready. The only sure fire way to calm down a herd of rampaging Pokemon was to defeat the leader, and strongest Pokemon of the herd in one on one battle. Only then would the others accept and respect your authority enough to actually heed your 'demands'.

Of course, that only worked if the Pokemon were in their right minds. And not just a rowdy bunch of berserkers.

Which thankfully, these Nidoking and Nidoqueen were not.

Finally, after a few moments of appraising Arcanine, the Nidoking shot off with a powerful roar, cracking the ground underneath its feet as it shot into a sprint, lowering its horn towards Arcanine as it charged. The horn glowed with a powerful silvery white charge of energy.

'_Megahorn._' Ash thought as he recognized the attack. One of, if not the most powerful Bug-type Pokemon attack. It was the headliner of the Bug-type Pokemon species, and was rather easy to identify for the most part.

The attack packed quite a bit of power in it, easily noted by how bright the Nidoking's horn shone. But, the most glaring weakness of the Nidoking species especially one of this size was their lack of speed.

Which was something Arcanine had in spades. And, would be a statistic that Ash would abuse the shit out of, knowing that getting caught up in close combat with a Nidoking of this power and experience would be tantamount to suicide, unless the Nidoking was unable to hit back while Arcanine was up close.

"Meet its charge head-on with Extremespeed," Ash finally stated as the large and powerful Nidoking closed in on Arcanine, "And then use your speed to dodge it and get behind Nidoking, then hit it in the back with Dragonbreath." He concluded.

Arcanine gave a bark of acknowledgement before taking off towards Nidoking, his form becoming naught but a blur to Ash's eyes.

Arcanine met the charging Nidoking halfway within a moment, and as the Nidoking gave a triumphant roar and lunged forward prepared to skewer Arcanine with its Megahorn attack Arcanine used his speed to slip right under the horn and past Nidoking's side.

Nidoking, missing its target stumbled out of its lunge and was only just barely able to stay on its two powerful legs instead of tumbling face first into the grass. Arcanine used this chance to slide around and to face Nidoking's back, straight out of his Extremespeed technique and opened his mouth wide as he could. Before launching a thick and powerful stream of greenish-yellow flames that struck true on Nidoking's back and washed over the entirety of the large purple Pokemon's frame.

Nidoking fell to its knee's in pain, giving an ear shattering roar of pain as the greenish-yellow flames of Arcanine's Dragonbreath engulfed it.

While this was happening though, Ash's mind was running a mile a minute, '_If I remember correctly, this particular Nidoking's ability is Poison point, so that means most of Arcanine's physical attacks have been rendered mute unless I want Arcanine to become poisoned._' He thought to himself. And the Nidoking and Nidoqueen species both had a rather powerful natural poison that protected their bodies from every other type of Pokemon besides Poison-types themselves and Steel-type Pokemon which were immune to Poison-type attacks.

That was why the Nidoking and Nidoqueen herds were the most annoying for Ash to quell when they were rampaging. Most of Arcanine's more powerful abilities lay in physical attacks, and with their natural body coating poison, and Ground-type Pokemon attributes to go along with their Poison-typing, it made for a bit of a challenge for Arcanine to deal with.

Thankfully though, Arcanine had an advantage here other than speed. He had Ash, and this Nidoking didn't have its own Trainer.

Which meant Arcanine could focus entirely upon the battle at hand and leave the strategizing to Ash.

...Still though, that left Arcanine with only three attacks he could use safely on the Nidoking. Flamethrower, Dragonbreath and finally Flare Blitz.

Ash was drawn from his thoughts as the Nidoking finally stood back up after a few seconds under the continuous Dragonbreath attack.

Turning its back towards Ash. Nidoking raised both arms up and literally plunged them into the greenish-yellow flames of the Dragonbreath and physically tore the stream of flames apart. Dispering them into nothing but small wisps of greenish-yellow vapours.

Ash grinned though as he caught sight of the few singe marks upon Nidoking's purple armoured back. The attack didn't do to much damage overall, but from what Ash could see of Nidoking's sluggish arm movements when it dispersed the flames of Dragonbreath. His plan had worked.

Dragonbreath may have been made up of flames. But the attack didn't attack with heat. No, it impacted with jarring force, and while it was still quite hot to touch, it wasn't anywhere close to as powerful heat wise as Arcanine's Flamethrower. But that didn't matter. Because, the flames of Dragonbreath attacked the body from the inside. The flames attacked the nerve system of the opponent and literally gave them a paralysis effect.

The indirect damage of the attack was quite a bit too. With its muscles and more partially paralysed. Nidoking wouldn't be able to take as much damage because its body wouldn't be able to prepare and protect itself fully, and thus Nidoking wouldn't be able to take as many hits before going down.

It was a simple theory and battle tactic Ash had learned under Professor Oak when he had first started trying to teach Arcanine Dragonbreath as a Growlithe. When a muscle was tensed, it was much sturdier than when limp. Harder, would be an appropriate term. Thus with the muscles partially paralysed, the victim of the attack would have the majority of its muscles limp or 'soft' as it were. And would therefore be unable to absorb as much damage with the weakened muscle.

Ash grinned in remembrance. It had become one of his favourite tactics when it came to battling. Paralyse the muscles of the opponent with Arcanine's Dragonbreath and then he'd have Arcanine overwhelm them with incredibly powerful physical blows, all designed normally to be knock-out attacks. But retaining even more impact and damage with the paralysed muscles.

It was why after perfecting Dragonbreath and evolving Growlithe into Arcanine, that Ash focused mainly on Arcanine's physical prowess. Learning very powerful and versatile Physically based attacks. Extremespeed, Close Combat, Flare Blitz, Wild Charge and finally Giga Impact were all attacks learned and perfected by Arcanine to maximize jarring impact on his foes when Ash's paralysation tactic came into play.

….Well maybe not so much Extremespeed. That technique was learned mostly for travelling purposes and for getting to places much faster. It sure as hell beat driving or walking anywhere that was for sure.

Grin stretching a little wider, Ash decided to finish things up here. Lest Nidoking recover full mobility once again. Arcanine wasn't a Dragon-type Pokemon afterall, and his Dragonbreath attack would never be as powerful as if he were a Dragon-type Pokemon instead of a Fire-type.

The paralysation never lasted more than ten to twenty minutes at most when the tactic was employed by Ash and Arcanine. Where as when Oak was teaching him the tactic, the Pokemon Professor Oak's Dragonite had demonstrated it on had been near enough fully paralysed for a good four hours.

"Alright Arcanine, let's wrap this up." Ash called out to his partner Pokemon. His call was echoed by a loud bark from said canine Pokemon and Ash allowed his grin to drop, "Right then, hit it with Flare Blitz!" He commanded sharply.

Arcanine obeyed and sprinted forward towards the sluggish Nidoking. Body exploding with an armour of red and orange flames that surged into a bright cyan blue not a moment later, as the fire around Arcanine reached a new level of heat.

Nidoking didn't stand a chance in hell of dodging the attack that struck true a moment later, straight against the Nidoking's unprotected white underbelly.

The flames exploded off of Arcanine and straight into Nidoking's body with a jarring explosion that kicked up a massive plume of dark smoke over Arcanine's form and sent the large Nidoking flying backwards at breakneck speeds. Bouncing across the grassy landscape of the open field a good dozen times before rolling and skidding to a stop.

Ash waited a moment for Arcanine to walk out of the smoke, the canine Pokemon wincing slightly as blue arcs of energy rippled off of his form.

Flare Blitz was the most powerful physical Fire-type Pokemon attack. But in return for being so powerful, the attack came with quite a recoil. The more powerful the attack, the more recoil damage Arcanine retained.

Thankfully though, when Arcanine fully mastered the technique the recoil should gradually wear away until there was no kick-back from the technique.

Ash waited for Arcanine to come to his side before he headed over to the Nidoking. Walking at a sedate pace.

Some would think he was being much to carefree about such a situation. He'd disagree though. He had been working daily at this Pokemon Ranch for over 2 years now, and so situations like this were a Pokedollar a dozen, and quite the common occurrence.

Especially since Professor Oak had refused to allow him and Growlithe – now an Arcanine – to wander out in the ranch without supervision until he was able to handle all of the larger species of Pokemon in battle, calm them down and generally know how to maintain the peace between the herds.

When he reached the downed form of Nidoking. Ash looked it over with a critical eye. Up and down its form he looked, before quirking a smile a few moments later. "Well, there's a bit of bruising and swelling across the chest and stomach area, along with a few painful looking burns." He stated, "But nothing serious that won't heal over within a few days time or with some potion." Ash finished.

Kneeling by the Nidoking's head. He met the laid out Pokemon's annoyance filled pitch black eyes with his own amber ones, amusement flittering across his tanned face as he lifted a finger and flicked the Nidoking lightly across the nose, causing said Pokemon to growl slightly.

"That's 33 against a whole whopping zero." Ash stated amusedly, a bemused smile spread across his face. "Better luck next time." He said next, standing up to his legs and moving on. Pointedly ignoring the grumbling crowd of Nidoking and Nidoqueen.

He jumped up upon Arcanine's back, and tossed one last parting shot towards the downed Nidoking before Arcanine took off at breakneck speeds. "Better get more training from Gary if you want to compete with us Nidoking." He shouted back with a laugh as he and Arcanine disappeared in a blur of speed.

...The Nidoking and Nidoqueen species while quite rowdy at times, never usually stampeded as much as they did nowadays. And that was for one simple reason.

Still though, it was best to allow a prideful Pokemon like that Nidoking to heal from such minor injuries on its own. Sometimes Pokemon as prideful as a Nidoking would react violently to be babied, especially when it came to injuries, which most battle loving Pokemon wore with pride.

Ash's best friend from childhood had left upon his journey when he turned 10 years of age. Originally, Gary was going to wait the extra month until Ash turned 10 himself so they could start at the same time as rivals. But since Ash was working as Oak's assistant, he saw no need to and left on his Pokemon journey two months prior.

The Nidoking leading the herd of Nidoking and Nidoqueen was Gary's own Nidoking that he'd caught during a venture through Viridian Forest. The Pokemon being quite mature and powerful already would have destroyed any rookie trainer in a battle with ease. Gifted as much as Gary Oak was or not.

But when Ash had begun working under Professor Oak as his assistant. Gary had convinced the good Professor that since Ash had a Pokemon already it really was quite unfair that Gary didn't. Especially since they both were in all the same classes when learning about Pokemon, and Gary was even a bit older than Ash.

And so, two years back just after Ash had started working as the assistant of Professor Samuel Oak. Gary picked his very own starter Pokemon, a Squirtle.

And when Gary finally left on his own journey, he left with a mature and powerful Wartortle by his side that trained against Ash and Arcanine regularly before they left.

Ash's smile of bemusement stretched a bit as the sight of Professor Oak's lab came into view and he allowed his mind to wander to all of Gary's recent captures since he left on his journey two months ago.

Gary had been a very busy guy as of late. He was determined to win the Indigo Pleatue League that was due to start in the next few months if Ash remembered right.

And from his last conversation with Gary over the video-phone just two days ago, Ash had learned that Gary already had an amazing collection of five badges. To go along with the twenty-six Pokemon he had captured to go along with those badges.

Ash couldn't quite remember them all, but he remembered the more powerful ones Gary had captured. Along with Wartortle and Nidoking. Gary had managed to capture a Nidoqueen, Electabuzz, Houndoom, Magmar, Golem, Seadra, Scyther, Kingler, an Eevee which he had trained thoroughly and managed to evolve into an Umbreon and the one that left him the most amused of all, an Arcanine of his own.

There were a good few other Pokemon he'd caught as well, but none that Ash could recall from the top of his head. He only really remembered the powerful or rare ones so far.

...Maybe he should think of catching more Pokemon? It wouldn't do to let his childhood rival get to far ahead of him after all. Researching Trainer instead of normal Pokemon Trainer or not.

* * *

It was just a few minutes at most later, in which Ash finally entered the Oak laboratory. Arcanine once again recalled into the confines of his Pokeball, and the Pokeball clipped back onto Ash's belt with a well practiced moved.

It wouldn't do to allow a Pokemon as large as Arcanine to parade around the many delicate items that were kept within the lab. That was a disaster just waiting to happen.

Arcanine was a massive Pokemon after all. Standing at an impressive 6, 2', even on all fours and weighing a good three-hundred and sixty pounds, Ash's Arcanine was truly an awe inspiring sight at times.

Ash was quite proud of Arcanine's stature, seeing as the Pokemon was in fact a good two inches taller than the average size for his species. It showed Ash just how well of a job he was doing raising Arcanine. After all, he'd only been an Arcanine for just shy of one and a half years and he'd already exceeded the average height of his species.

That wasn't to say that Arcanine was a beast among Arcanine though. He just had the luck of having a Trainer who was learning all he could about Pokemon under the renowned Professor Oak, who'd actually raised his very own Arcanine once upon a time.

And _that_ was an Arcanine that Ash was in awe of every time he saw it. It literally was a Pokemon deserving of the title 'Legendary' as the Pokedex was want to say about the Arcanine species. Professor Oak's Arcanine was easily over forty years old, and stood at a massively towering height of seven foot eight. Over a foot and a half in height larger than the average size of its species.

It was a testament to the amount of effort and care Professor Oak had put into raising his Arcanine from a young Growlithe. And really hit him for Ash how far he still had to go before he could claim the title of 'Pokemon Master' with his own two hands.

Professor Oak, after all, had never been titled as a Pokemon Master. Even with his insanely powerful original team of six Pokemon. They were all massive and towered over the average Pokemon of their species with ease, and it was due to those six Pokemon that no true riots had ever occurred in over twenty-years at the Oak Ranch.

They were all monsters to behold in a battle. And they were the beasts that both he and Gary had to train against when having mock battles with Professor Oak.

Arcanine, Charizard, Gyarados, Venasaur, Dragonite and finally Professor Oak's rarest and most powerful Pokemon that even Ash had saw very little of. And Ash had no idea, just how the man had managed to capture it. The Legendary Pokemon, Celebi.

Ash had only seen Celebi a handful of times, and only ever battled it once with Arcanine. And the power the small little green pixie Pokemon wielded was terrifyingly awesome.

It had tracked Arcanine's Extremespeed with ease and then literally destroyed him with one blow. A Shadow Ball attack that wasn't even at full power.

It was a great blow to both his and Arcanine's pride, to learn that despite them being a powerful team together, they weren't even a blip on Professor Oak and his Pokemon's radar.

But even then, after sulking for a bit. Ash's determination to become a Pokemon Master came back even more powerful than before.

That, and he hoped that one day he could capture his own Legendary Pokemon.

And despite only interacting with Celebi a handful of times, the small Pokemon had taken quite a shine to him, for reasons he just couldn't place.

It was a puzzling experience. When he had asked Professor Oak about it, the man had told him Celebi had been with him for over forty years, and that one day soon he, Ash himself would come to understand why, and just why Celebi had taken such a shine to him.

Cryptic as hell, as far as Ash was concerned but at least the old Professor had told him he would learn about it all one day soon, so he was content to just drop the matter until then.

Making his way up the stairs, Ash entered the research area of Professor Oak's laboratory. It was a large, wide open room with lots of space. At the far end, Professor Oak sat on a comfortable chair as he typed away at his large computer screen. On both sides of the computer were long lines of large white computer processors that were hooked up to the computer the professor was seated at. And were used to make sure that the computer could handle the strain of running thousands of different programs at once that ensured the working conditions of the Oak Ranch.

To the far end of the research area, there was another set of stairs that led up to a balcony that hung over the room and allowed for occupants of the laboratory to look out and enjoy the view of the massive window that was as wide as the room itself. The view out of the window itself, was straight out and over the Oak Ranch, allowing everyone a view of the entirety of the many habitats. From the fields, to the grassy plains, to the rocky terrain, the forest areas and even a bit of the water Pokemon habitats which were generally just rather large lakes.

It was a breath taking sight, that much Ash knew. To watch out over the thousands of Pokemon living at the Oak Ranch as they went about their day to day lives.

Under the balcony, there was a set of bookcases that Ash was intimately familiar with. Having spent many a night alongside Arcanine relaxing and studying all about the many different Pokemon and information on said Pokemon contained within the confines of the books.

To the side nearest Ash as he entered the research area. There was a large video phone and Pokeball transport device that was used to transfer Pokemon to wherever in the world another Pokeball transport device was hooked up.

And finally, in the middle of the large room there was a comfortable red sofa and a large cylindrical stand that held the three Pokeballs that contained the newly raised and trained Kanto started trio. Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Charmander.

The sofa was a bit out of place, but that was because Ash himself had asked for it to be moved into the lab. The sofa was able to be folded out into a bed, and was what Ash used to catch up on his sleep when he stayed working over the night at the Oak Ranch and couldn't be bothered walking down the road to his home. It happened so regularly that both he and Professor Oak both thought it would be for the best.

It was that or having his mother chew him out for not getting enough rest, because growing boys needed lots of rest. And then for some weird reason she'd throw in a few comments about remembering to change his underwear, or 'you-know-what's', as his mother liked to call them.

"Well, that's my rounds for today finished up Professor." Ash said out loud, as he reached the sofa and collapsed onto it, his arms resting on the back as he swivelled his head towards the Professor. "And I've taken care of that Nidoking and Nidoqueen stampede problem."

Professor Oak swung around on his computer chair to face Ash, a beaming smile on his cheerful looking face, "Splendid, splendid." He replied, "There were no outstanding problems, dare I ask?" The grey haired professor asked.

Ash chuckled and shook his head, "Nah professor," He denied with a wave of his hand, "It was just Gary's Nidoking trying to lure us into a battle again, but the battle itself didn't last long at all since I decided to bust out the Dragonbreath tactic at the very beginning."

Oak chuckled in amusement, "That Nidoking is just like Gary, always challenging you to a form of competition every chance it gets. Whether it wins or loses. Just as Gary has with you since you both ended up with Growlithe and Squirtle as your Pokemon." He replied through his chuckles.

As their chuckles died down, Ash spoke up once again, "So Professor, do you have anything else you need me to do today, or am I free to head on out to do some training with Arcanine?" The young research assistant inquired. Mussing his shaggy black hair with his hand as he trailed it up from the base of his neck and over his head.

If possible, Ah could have sworn Professor Oak's beaming smile glinted in the sunlight coming through the massive window. "As a matter of fact Ash, there is something I want to talk to you about." Oak started, gaining Ash's attention. "As you know, you turned ten a few weeks ago and both you and Gary qualified under the Pokemon Trainership tests, and were allowed to start your journeys at ten years of age."

"Yeah?" Ash stated, "And Gary left on his journey as soon as he could when he heard that I planned on sticking around here to learn more under you, so?" He asked, his voice casual yet with a slight undertone of curiosity.

"Yes." Professor Oak replied, "But as things are now Ash, there really isn't much else I have left to teach you. And you'll now only improve as a Trainer with experience."

"Again, that's nothing new Professor." Ash stated in return, "You told me all of this just lack week, and I've been trying to determine what I should do on my journey before I leave." He continued, "I mean, I don't know if I want to battle Gym Leaders and compete in leagues like Gary, compete in Pokemon Contests as a Coordinator or just plain travel around the regions and learn as much about Pokemon as I can." Ash finished, taking a deep breath to regain the lost oxygen from his lungs.

Coming out of his tirade, Ash looked up to meet Professor Oak's eyes and was just in time to catch a closed over, black coloured Pokegear.

"What's this for?" The young trainer questioned.

"...That," Professor Oak started, pointing at the black device in his hand, "Is a newly bought - and modified personally by me - Pokegear. Along with the usual features of the Pokegear, I've installed in it a program that is filled to the brim with unusual reports, sightings and rumors that have been discovered over all of the regions." He explained cheerfully, his voice having a slight lilt towards the edge that allowed his young assistant Ash to determine just how excited the older researcher was about the information programmed into the device.

Okay then, he'd bite.

"That's interesting and all Professor, but what's it got to do with me?" Ash prodded. Nudging his head towards the black device clasped between his hands.

Professor Oak merely chuckled, waving his arm towards Ash in amusement. "Now Ash, we both know that while you're rather hard-headed at times, you are not dense." He replied, before pushing on, "But I'll humor you I suppose."

Pointing at the device once again, Professor Oak began his explanation, "Over the past few weeks, I have been in close correspondence with the regional Professor's of Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh and Unova, as well as a contact within the Orre Region." He began, "My inquiries towards these individuals were all based upon rare Pokemon evolutions, sightings and rumours that I recorded down to later install into that Pokegear."

"I'd like you, Ash, to head out as a field researcher on a journey to research each and everyone of these happen-stances and see if you can discern anything of note." The Kanto Regional Professor finished.

Ash stared at him for a moment, then he slowly blinked. And blinked again as he processed the information that had just been dumped on him within his head.

...Well he'd been searching high and low for a reason to head out on his own journey with Arcanine. He was getting a bit stir crazy hanging around Pallet Town, whilst Gary was out travelling all over Kanto, catching Pokemon and winning Gym Badges.

And these rumours were bound to be based mostly around rare Pokemon. So therefore there was a good chance Ash could capture some of these rare Pokemon to become his own Pokemon.

Not to mention he was hard up for some excitement. Pallet Town was just too damn peaceful for him. There was nobody of note at all besides Professor Oak to battle. And he could only take so many losses before his ego would be irreversibly damaged.

He mulled it over in his head for another few moments, before he came to a decision.

"I'd love to!" Ash responded, a wide face splitting grin running across his visage. Excitement literally bubbling away at the base of his stomach.

Professor Oak's smile stretched further and he clapped his hands together joyfully, "Splendid splendid my boy. I'm glad you decided to take me up on my offer." He stated, "Now why don't you shoo on back home and let your mother know of your plans, I'd like you to leave as soon as possible." He continued, "Just thinking about what possible new discoveries you will make has got my old bones jonesing with life and excitement once again."

Ash laughed loudly as he stood up from the sofa and slipped the Pokegear into his empty back pocket. The other actually having the black Pokedex he'd been gifted for his 10th birthday by the elderly Professor in it, "Don't go making it out as if your some weak old man." He mock admonished with another laugh, "We both know you're as fit as anyone could possibly ever hope to be at your age."

Professor Oak gave another jovial chuckle, "My my Ash ma' boy, you need to lay off the praise from these old bones, at this rate you might make me blush like a little girl."

Ash snorted another laugh, but began making his way towards the stairs when another thought question raced across his mind and he froze in his next step, "Hey Professor, why isn't there any rumours or the like on the Pokegear from the Kalos Region?" The Trainer asked.

At that, Ash turned and was met with the amusing sight of Professor Oak chuckling in embarrassment, and scratching the nape of his neck in a nervous manner, "Well both I and Professor Sycamore ended up clashing ego against ego, because I stated that both you and Gary both would thoroughly trounce the three trainer's who started off their journeys over in that region just a few months ago with ease." He explained feebly, "And so, until we get back on speaking terms I won't be able to get rumours and the like from that Region for you to investigate."

After hearing the reasoning, Ash could only shake his head in reply. He supposed even men like Professor Oak had moments when their pride wouldn't allow them to back down.

Too bad though. He'd heard from rumours and saw in a few pictures that the Kalos Region was a very beautiful place, and that there was quite a few interesting Pokemon that lived only there.

That and the fact that the Kalos Region was the region where the Fairy-type Pokemon were said to have originated from.

"Later Professor Oak!" Ash called, tossing a wave over his shoulder as he reached the stairs and began descending them on his way out of the Oak Laboratory.

* * *

It was 8:45 Pm when Ash finally got back to his own bedroom for the night and collapsed onto his bed in exhaustion. Arcanine following at his heels and laying down beside his bed.

Once upon a time when he was a Growlithe, Arcanine would sleep on the bed with him. It done wonders during the winter when his room got cold, the Fire-type canines inherit body heat was oh so comfortable.

But he was no longer a cute little Growlithe anymore. Nowadays he was a massive towering Arcanine, and weighed almost three times Ash's body weight. Together they would be putting a combined weight of almost five-hundred pounds on the bed, and Ash wasn't sure if the springs of his bed would snap or not with that kind of weight pressing down on it.

So they played it safe, and Arcanine slept on a soft rug by the side of his bed.

Anyway, he'd left the Oak Ranch at just ten minutes past two in the afternoon and made his way to his home. When he reached there, he spent a good half hour eating lunch and telling his mother all about the journey he was set to start out on.

While she was rather sad that he was going to be leaving her alone as he went out on a journey, his mother was nonetheless exceedingly happy for him. She knew just how much his dream of becoming a Pokemon Master meant to him, and was the person that tried to motivate him to do his best the most. Which was why she actually helped him learn to take care of himself so that he could pass the Pokemon Trainership exam when it came to the survival test.

After having lunch and regaling his mother, he went out to run a few errands for his mother and didn't arrive back home until 5pm. Then he'd spent another half hour eating dinner with his mother and Arcanine before heading back out to do some training with Arcanine.

They spent a full three hours training, nonstop, before they packed it in and headed back home. As far as Ash was concerned, he was a very busy kid.

Thankfully though, his mother had already set out the outfit he'd purchased for his journey a few weeks back. So he could just drift off into a nice relaxing sleep, and not have to worry about anything else until morning came.

And when morning came, he'd be setting out early on his very own Pokemon Journey. He was very keen to get out and travel with Arcanine, see awe inspiring sights, enjoy the independence that came with a Pokemon journey, and most of all battle and capture more Pokemon.

He was so excited at the thought of capturing a large Flying or Water-type Pokemon. Arcanine was incredibly fast on land, and he could traverse miles on his back with ease and a speed that very few could hope to match.

All he needed now was a large Flying-type Pokemon to travel through the air, and a large Water Pokemon, like maybe a Gyarados? To travel over large bodies of water.

Two Pokemon like that, alongside Arcanine, would be all the transportation he needed to get to almost everywhere and anywhere he wanted to go on his journey.

It was a very pleasant day-dream to fall asleep to. And one Ash decided he definitely would, and hope for a dream just as fulfilling to him as the day-dream was.

Reaching over towards Arcanine as he pulled back the covers on his bed and slid between them, Ash gently rubbed the side of Arcanine's nose.

The large canine Pokemon let out a pleasured rumble in response and nuzzled his snout into Ash's palm for a few moments before Ash allowed his hand to trail away and towards the illuminated lamp sitting upon the table beside his bed.

"Good night, buddy." Ash said softly.

"Rooh." Arcanine mumbled sleepily in reply.

Smiling to himself, Ash clicked the button on the side of the lamp and allowed darkness to encompass his room. Together, both Trainer and Pokemon drifted off into a relaxing slumber.

Tomorrow, their very own Pokemon journey would begin. And together, they would make Ash's dream of becoming a Pokemon Master become a reality.

It would all begin tomorrow morning. The adventure of a lifetime.

* * *

**Aaaand done! God this took at least triple the time to write out fully than any other chapter when I finally knuckled down to write them out fully.**

**God, that's pathetic. I'd flame me on principal alone for that if I were you guys.**

**I apologize again if this chapter wasn't up to any of your standards. But my motivation for writing is dead at the moment, and no matter how hard I try to jump-start it. The engine inside me for writing just putters out on me.**

**Pathetic Jordan! Just bloody pathetic! Get a grip of yourself you fuckin' chicken shit pansy Scottish wanker!**

**Anyway, self-berating aside. Feel free to leave your suggestions for which Pokemon you'd like Ash to catch, and why. And if they appeal to me, I'll gladly have Ash capture them.**

**Once again, anyway I'm gonna end this Author's Note here. I need to go get some aspirin – pain killers – because I've worked up a mighty sore headache from forcing myself to write this out.**

**Later guys, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. And if not, well feel free to flame the ever loving shit out of me. Don't be shy about it either, because the majority of you know I wouldn't if I were in your position.**

**And hopefully, soon, my motivation will start up again. And I swear to you guys, when it does I'm going to abuse the shit out of it and spend like an entire week writing non-stop so that I can get multiple chapters out for you guys to make up for the lack of my subpar chapters as of late.**

**Anyway, once again I'll say it. I'll see you guys later, I'm off to get some aspirin and find something decent to read for myself. Maybe that will help my motivation not putter out on me?**

**Meh, who knows.**

**Jordinio – out!**


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